Wednesday, July 1, 2015

How to Keep Iron Bacteria from Growing in Iron Filters

Hello Chris,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:

"Current system is a small GE water softener and a cartridge filter.  We have 2 adults and a 5 year old living at the house.  Cartridge filters have lots of iron bacteria.  Goal is to remove the iron and iron bacteria.  Chlorine free.  Consistent flow rates.  Reduced hardness."

To kill iron bacteria it is best to inject chlorine or ozone ahead of a contact tank and allow the chlorine or ozone to disinfect the water, and a good quality iron filter to remove the oxidized iron and manganese.   As a final stage, a carbon filter can be used to remove any residual chlorine.  


However, if you don’t want to inject chlorine into your water itself, then you might consider setting up an iron filter system that has a small side tank attached.  This would instead allow you to occasionally draw up chlorine, just during the backwash cycle, to rinse off and sanitize the iron filter media.  This way, ideally the iron bacteria will build up within the filter media bed but be killed off every time you run a chlorine rinse on it.

The Pro-OX iron filter is definitely our best system for oxidizing and filtering out manganese and iron.  It lasts a long time- usually around 6 to 8 years before needing to be replaced, and requires no maintenance.  Note, the system shown below is a good average size, but we offer smaller and larger systems too depending on the size of your home.



Pro-Ox Iron Filter 5900 Series, 1 cu. Ft, 115 Volt:                 

Pro-Ox Iron Filter 5900 SeriesPro-OX Iron Filter 5900 Series includes pipe connectors; by-pass valve; 1.0 cubic feet of Pro-OX Manganese Dioxide NSF Certified filter media; 10 x 44 inch filter tank; 5700-E automatic backwash control valve. Uses the Enpress tank with Vortech distributor which allows the Pro-OX media to be backwashed at lower flow rates with less water, saving water and energy.   

Dimensions: 10” diameter x 50” height with valve; Chlorine side tank is 10.5” diameter x 16” high

Click here for more product information.